When it comes to the Mac

Most PC users don't know jack!

Strong sales of Apple's hot G3 line in January pushed Apple to the #3 spot among personal computer retailers. That's according to a recent survey conducted by market research company PC Data, Inc. The report showed that in January, Apple's retail sales were 12% of the PC retail market, putting them third in terms of revenue behind #1 ranked Compaq and #2 Packard Bell/NEC. (Gee, where's IBM and Gateway? Let me give you a hint&endash;behind Apple in sales, that's where! HP, who used to be ranked second, has now dropped below Apple too!) When it comes to total units shipped, Apple was ranked fifth, with Compaq again occupying the top spot.

Computer Intelligence reports that when it comes to customer loyalty, Apple ranks as "far and away the favorite." The recently released report put Apple at the top of the heap when it comes to repurchase rates for companies that buy computers at 51%. Compaq had 32% and Gateway 2000 was lagging far behind with only 3% repurchase rate. Ouch!

Of the products review in the previous year by Publish, 84% are Mac (with 35% available Mac Only). For Mac-Windows, 42% are available on both platforms. And Windows only reviews were just 19%. Again, that's 84% for Mac and just 42% for Windows.

Macintosh rules in Desktop video and animation production. That's according to the results of Post Magazine, a magazine for video production, who recently released the results of their 12th annual survey of video production facilities. Their survey showed Macintosh as the overwhelming choice, with Macintosh capturing 58% of survey respondents, vs. only 27% for Windows NT. Also, in the area of Desktop animation, Macintosh lead there as well with 36% using Mac, vs. only 23% for Windows. These figures once again reinforce the fact that Macintosh is the clear choice fore creative professionals everywhere.

According to USA Today's "USA Snapshots" section, Mac OS third-quarter sales jumped significantly, rising from 5% of all sales in 1996 to 33% in 1997. This is due, no doubt, to the record-breaking demand for Mac OS 8. USA Today's statistics also showed that according to NPD SofTrends, Windows 95 sales dropped from 77% in 1996 down to 63% in '97. Sales of DOS (DOS!?) fell from 10% in 1996 to only 2% in 97%. Windows NT sales were not disclosed, but really, who cares?

Apple released their FY1997 Macintosh Installed Base and User Statistics, and according to Apple, "27.6 million Apple Macintosh computers have been shipped worldwide since 1984, and 79% of all Macintosh computers shipped are still active in the installed base. And with an average of 3.2 users per Macintosh computer that computes to approximately 69.3 million Mac users worldwide. Not bad, eh?

Apple's Jan '98 sales third among all PC retailers. That's according to PC Data, Inc. who released the results of their survey in early March '98. Their survey showed that Apple had the third highest revenue in the entire PC retail market. Only Compaq and Packard Bell/NEC sold more units. (which shows that Apple even outsold IBM. Again.) The survey showed that in total units shipped during that period, Apple ranked fifth.

More web pages are created on a Macintosh than any other platform. According to WebWEEK, the weekly trade journal for Internet Professionals, Macintosh is again the #1 platform for professional World Wide Web authoring. In their second annual survey, Macs had a 47.9% market share among U.S.-based professional web-site design firms where as Windows 95 scored only with 24.2% and Windows NT only 16.5%. (Source: WebWeek Magazine, 1997 www.webweek.com)

The fastest personal computer in the world is, again, a Macintosh! But just how fast is it? According to tests conducted using BYTE magazine's BYTEmark benchmark program, the industry-accepted measure of computer processor speed, the chip in the Apple's new Macintosh G3 models is twice as fast as Intel's top-of-the-line Pentium II/300. (vs. Compaq 5100/PII 300) and test also revealed that Apple' G3 PowerBook is approximately 80% faster than any PC laptop you can buy today. This helps to explain why the Mac G3s are the fasting selling computer in Apple history.

Half of the families in FamilyPC magazine's "95 days with Windows 95" gave up because they were "upset over its hardware requirements, frustrated by its slow operations on their machines, or just plain fed up with compatibility problems. One of the testers, who dropped out of the test after two months said, "It has been a time-consuming disaster." Read the facts at http://www.zdnet.com/familypc/content/960318/win95/win95.html

New report shows schools choosing Macintosh over Windows! The Technology Purchasing Forecast report, released June 30th, 1997 by Denver Based Quality Education Data (QED) shows that 59% of the planned computer purchases by school districts are intended to be Macintosh, a 3 percent increase over last year. And according to Field Research Corporation's 1996 K-12 School/District Office Survey and 1997 K-12 Teacher Survey, Apple is the leading brand of computer used by teachers in schools and homes

A PC magazine admits--200 MHz Power Mac trounces 200 MHz Pentium Pro in their own real world tests! Byte, the popular PC magazine, compared a 200MHz Pentium Pro with a 200MHz Power Mac (PowerPC) 604e processor in a series of benchmark tests for performance and the Mac blew the Pentium out of the water! In Byte's benchmark test the PowerPC processors outperformed the Intel Pentium in integer calculations by as much as 81% (Pentium vs. 603e) and in floating point calculations by as much as 26% (Pentium Pro vs. 604e).

Nobody can beat Apple's brand loyalty! The latest study conducted by Computer Intelligence shows Apple as #1 in brand loyalty with 87% repurchasing Macintosh computers for the FOURTH straight year! I wonder how many Packard-Bell owners buy another Packard Bell?

Mac OS third-quarter sales make major jump! According to USA Today's "USA Snapshots" section, Mac OS third-quarter sales jumped significantly, rising from 5% of all sales in 1996 to 33% in 1997. USA Today's statistics also showed that according to NPD SofTrends, Windows 95 sales dropped from 77% in 1996 down to 63% in '97. Sales of DOS (DOS!?) fell from 10% in 1996 to only 2% in 97%. Windows NT sales were not disclosed, but really, who cares?

Apple still has huge cash reserves! Through all the doom and gloom of the national media and their coverage of Apple's restructuring, it's rarely mentioned that Apple still has a healthy cash position of over $1.35 billion in reserves (that's billion with a "B"). And that cash reserve figure is reportedly larger than the cash reserves of roughly 95% of the corporations in America. For 12 straight years, Apple continues to prove the analysts wrong!

C|Net picks Windows 95 as "One of the biggest disappointments of 1996!" In fact, in nominating it for one of the biggest disappointments of the year, they said, "Though it was hyped as a 32-bit powerhouse, many companies simply ignored it and stayed with Windows 3.1. And who could blame them? Plug and Play is often plug and pray and to make matters worse, Windows 95 often runs slower than a comparable Windows 3.1 system. And 32 bit or not, it still crashes. A lot." Read it at: http://www.cnet.com/Content/Reviews/Special/Best96/ball5.html

Apple holds the #1 market share position in K-12 education. According to Quality Education Data, 1996-1997 Technology Purchasing Forecast, Apple holds the #1 market share in K-12, and according to Field Research, 64% of K-12 teachers use Apple-brand computers.

Macintosh rules in desktop video and animation production. That's according to the results of Post Magazine, a magazine for video production, who recently (Feb '98) released the results of their 12th annual survey of video production facilities. Their survey showed Macintosh as the overwhelming choice, with more than twice as many professionals using Macintosh as Windows. Macintosh captured 58% of survey respondents, vs. only 27% for Windows NT. Also, in the area of Desktop animation, Macintosh clearly has the lead their as well with 36% using Mac, vs. only 23% for Windows.

There are approximately 69.3 million Macintosh users worldwide. Apple released their FY1997 Macintosh Installed Base and User Statistics and according to Apple, "27.6 million Apple Macintosh computers have been shipped worldwide since 1984, and 79% of all Macintosh computers shipped are still active in the installed base (21.8 million Macintosh computers in use today).There are an average of 3.2 users per Macintosh computer in use today, which computes to approximately 69.3 million Macintosh users worldwide." Not bad, eh?

Professional Designers use Macintosh! Publish, the cross platform "Magazine for electronic publishing professionals," announced the winners of their 9th Annual Design Awards in their May 1997 issue. And it's no big surprise that all of the winning entries were designed on a Macintosh except for one which was designed on a 486 PC by a designer in Brazil.

For even more proof, look to Print magazine (an industry trade journal for graphics professionals) whose "Digital Art and Design Annual" features winning entries from around the world. Of the 189 design winners, 185 were produced on Macs, and only 2 were produced on a PC. That's puts award-winning PC designers at about 1%. Gee, with all those millions and millions of PCs out there, you'd think more than 2 designers could come up with something worth merit. Perhaps not.

Mac sales soar at CompUSA thanks to their new "Apple Store Within a Store" concept. CompUSA reported that sales of Macintosh computers in stores that added Apple's Store within a store section jumped from 3% of overall store sales to a whopping 14%.

Study shows Macintosh Web servers have lower cost of ownership. An independent study released by the Newton, Mass-based Business Research Group reveals that Macintosh Web servers have the lowest cost of ownership, lowest maintenance, and are the easiest to use for small to medium-sized businesses. The study cited lower initial costs, lower installation costs, lower content creation costs per page, lower total outside services costs, lower server management costs, and lower peer training and online help costs

Publish shows professional designers are staying with Macintosh. Publish magazine's 1998 issue released the findings from their recent study that shows that the majority of design professionals are not considering switching platforms to Windows. Other details from their survey indicated that when it comes to page layout, 67% use Macintosh, for image editing 67% use macintosh, and for illustration 61% also use Macintosh.

Macintosh is still significantly ahead of Windows 95 on features. Just ask Byte magazine which wrote, "To see tomorrow's PC, look at today's Macintosh." Or Computer Reseller news who wrote, "Market acceptance non withstanding, Windows is far, far behind the Macintosh." Or perhaps consider what PC Computing said: "Macintosh System 7.5.2 is by far the easiest, smoothest, most usable operating system out there."

You can't get that program on Windows 95. There are currently over 1,889 "Mac only" Applications that are not available for PC users. Visit Apple's Web Site for the entire list.

Users who use both Mac and Windows 95 on a PC, like the Mac better! An independent study by Evans Research shows that people who use both system rated the Macintosh higher in every category including overall satisfaction, productivity, and ease of use. Read the findings of the report at http://www2.apple.com/whymac/satisfaction/default.html

In a head-to-head public battle staged by the Software Publishers Association, the Macintosh beat Windows hands-down. The "Ultimate Mac vs. Windows Challenge." pitted a senior technical editor from Windows Sources magazine, and his assistant, against a 10-year-old Mac user. In a series of real world tests (which included assembling the computer, connecting a printer and a Zip drive, connecting to the Internet, etc.) the youngster finished in *half* the time taken by his opponents.

Apple is worldwide market leader in digital camera sales. According to BIS, the Apple QuickTake camera's share is greater than the sales of all other digital camera manufacturers combined.

Software developers make higher profits with Mac software than Windows software. Macintosh continues to offer developers and retailers greater profitability than the competition. Average revenues per unit remain higher overall for Macintosh software than for Windows applications, according to reports from PCData and SPA.

Using Macintosh computers to develop software saves money! On average, the cost to develop and support Wintel (Windows/Intel- based PCs) applications is 50% higher per dollar of revenue than the cost to develop for Macintosh. Also, the Software Publishers Association (SPA) reports that although the Macintosh hardware market may be less than 10%, Macintosh software makes up over 18% of all software sold. The report went on to point out that Macintosh users actually use more applications than Windows users and cited ease of installation of Mac applications as one of the reasons.

Macintosh rules the CD-ROM market. 72 percent of all multimedia CD-ROM titles are developed on a Macintosh; Regardless of the platform they run on, 42 of the 50 top-selling CD-ROM titles worldwide were developed on Macintosh; and Apple is the Number 1 multimedia vendor in the world...for the second year in a row.

Apple Wins J.D. Power and Associates Desktop Personal Computer Satisfaction Study. Apple Computer, Inc. leads the computer industry in overall customer satisfaction for desktop personal computers, according to the J.D. Power and Assoc. Desktop Personal Computer End-User Satisfaction Study.